The monthly Newsletter of the I ndian Association of S ecretaries and Administrative P rofessionals, Tamil Nadu Chapter

IASAP TamilNadu Chapter For Private Circulation only Page 1

Dear Members, Ode to the Indian Housewife

An article was recently in circulation on how ‘An Indian Housewife’ could be an apt case study for the IIMs on their excellent Management skills. Has anyone ever thought of an MBA in ‘Home Management’? Most management skills that are taught of which the IIMs boasts of and for which they are highly paid, are also essential for running a traditional home. Just like qualified IIMs and the like are required to run businesses, running a ‘Home’ too requires special skills, which women acquire naturally. Let’s look at the some of the major skill sets: Planning: Forget a Business's Annual Plans and Long Range Plans - everything relating to

the future requirement of the family is already well thought out in her mind and she goes about executing it with her meagre resources, including all course corrections. Directing: She directs all actions relating to the household every day.

Staffing: Whether she has servants or not, whether other family members help her or not.

Whether her finances would help her have additional hands or not, all daily needs of the household are met without fail. Co-Ordinating: She is the main center-pin for coordinating for all the actions of the family -

for getting things done, for complaints resolution etc. Everything/everyone revolves round her. Controls: Very rarely does the husband ever know or get involved in controlling things at

home - it is the wife who is the monarch of all that she surveys - directly or indirectly. Time Management: She could probably be the best Time Manager. Her duty hours are 24 x

7 all the year round & lifelong. She does not get Casual Leave or Sick Leave or Annual Leave nor does she get paid for Overtime. Budgeting: She manages the finances & ensures that the monthly requirements are met.

She also creates reserves for the future major expenses like education/marriage/medical etc. She might not be educated but her cash flow management is always exemplary. Man Management: Every housewife could be an example of an excellent Man Manager -

she has to tolerate her husband and his office worries that he carries home, her children's problems, her inlaws' etc., resolving all issues without any demur and to the satisfaction of all. She could beat any HR Manager hands down in Human Relations. Above all who can ever dispute the love and compassion that she showers on her family.

Her shoulders are always available for all the family members to lean on. She is the best solace, be it for the children or the husband. While the whole world is clamouring for ‘Freedom’ from bondage, this is the only species who willingly gives without expecting anything in return.

Surekha Johnson

Volume 18 Issue 9&10 tn.iasap@yahoo.com September & October 2014

Managing Committee (2014-2015)

Chairperson Surekha Johnson Tel: 2435 7051

Vice Chairperson Mary Margaret Tel: 98401 11714 Honorary Secretary Usha Reddy Tel: 6677 2640 Honorary Treasurer M. Priya Balaji Tel: 6101 0768 Imm. Past Chairperson Anne Parameswaran Tel: 98410 92598

Committee Members Bhama Suresh Tel: 98414 23201 Rajeswari Natarajan Tel: 4900 5555

R B Sudha Tel: 80125 07003

The monthly Newsletter of the Indian Association of Secretaries and Administrative Professionals, Tamil Nadu Chapter

IASAP TamilNadu Chapter Page 2

India - Some Unknown Facts Every country has a story behind it and a long list of amazing facts that make it distinct from other countries. India, as is well known, is the largest democracy in the world and the country with the second largest population, second only to China. Here are some interesting facts about India that are not so well known. 1. The name `India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the first inhabitants of India. 2. North Korea, South Korea, Bahrain and Republic of the Congo share their independence day with India. 3. India is the world's largest producer of tea, milk and mangoes and also the second largest producer of wheat and rice, the world's major food staples. 4. "Chess" and "Snakes and Ladders" were invented in India. 5. India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history. 6. The world's largest road network is in India-over 1.9 million miles of roads cover the country. 7. Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) is the wettest spot on earth. It receives at least 425 inches of rain every year, which is over 5 times more than the tropical rain forests of South America! 8. With around 155,618 post offices and over 566,000 employees, India has the largest postal network in the world. 9. India Railways is the single largest civilian employer in the world, with over a million employees. 10. State Bank of India has the maximum number of branches in the world, with the number being over 15,000 and counting. 11. The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, who also explained the Pythagorean Theorem. 12. India is one of only three countries that makes supercomputers (the US and Japan are the other two). 13. Navi Mumbai, a planned satellite township of Mumbai, was developed in 1972 and is thelargest planned township on the planet. 14. India produces more movies than any other country in the world and Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world. 15. There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.

RECIPE CORNER

RESHMI PANEER Ingredients Cottage cheese (paneer) 500 grams Tomato seeded and cut into thin strips 1 medium Oil 1 tablespoon Onion 1 medium Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon Green capsicum 1 medium Garlic paste 1 teaspoon Ginger paste 1 teaspoon Coriander powder 2 teaspoons Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon Tomato puree 1 cup Salt to taste Red chilli powder 2 teaspoons Fresh coriander sprigs 8-10 Fresh cream 1/2 cup Garam masala powder 1 tablespoon Ginger juliennes for garnish Method Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Cut onion into half and slice.

Add cumin seeds and onion to the pan and saute well.

Cut capsicum into thin strips and add along with

tomato. Toss. Add garlic paste, ginger paste, coriander

powder and turmeric powder and mix well. Sauté well.

Add tomato puree, toss to mix and cook further. Cut

cottage cheese into thick fingers. Add salt and red chilli

powder to the pan and mix well. Add little water, mix

well and cook. Add cottage cheese. Finely chop

coriander sprigs. Add cream to the pan and mix well.

Add garam masala powder and mix well. Add chopped

coriander and mix well. Let it get heated through. Serve

hot garnished with ginger juliennes.

IASAP Tamil Nadu Chapter Page 3

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER

4th Sandra Smith 2nd Bhuvana Gopalan

11th Arasi Shanmugham 2nd Alamelu V

12th Mala Manishankar 4th Sabitha Rozalla

15th Vidhya Sivakumar 4th Moira Menon

15th Poorna Juliet Jerin 4th Lalitha Veeramani

16th Emelia Geer 6th Shobana P

16th Perpetua Frantz 7th Vijaya Venkatesh

19th Shanthi Chandrasekharan 8th Vijeswari Rajaraman

25th Vijayalakshmi V 8th Chrystal Taylor

26th Vijayalakshmi L N 10th Rebecca Pereira

28th Marie Baskaran 15th Maureen Beck 28th Rebecca Patrick 15th Meena Anandan

17th Glynis Joseph

18th Margaret Rozario

18th Sharon Saldanha 19th Deborah Wilkins

20th Candy Prim

22nd Pam Fernandez

24th Seretta Browne

26th Naaz Tyebbhoy

26th Cheryl Foregard

28th Anitha Venkatachary

31st Jessie Edwards

A very happy anniversary to all members celebrating their

Wedding Anniversary in September & October 2014

The meet began with Surekha welcoming the gathering and shared her experiences and observations of the British culture. What we can adopt from them and what we can teach them. It seemed like ages since we had met as this was the first bi-monthly meeting. Surekha also discussed the events scheduled during October – Boss’s day lunch was discussed in detail and she requested members present to confirm their boss’ name and details at the earliest to plan the event. Ms. Swapna Nair, Motivational speaker began with an energizer “CHICKKA – LUKKA” which ushered in positivity among the members. Ms. Swapna Nair completely mesmerized the audience with her thought provoking and age defying talk on ’ROCK ON’. Anecdote and real life stories made a great impact. The important take always were: Do we have a Road Map – Where do we see ourselves 5 years down the line? Do we know what makes us happy? Are we heading in the right direction in the pursuit of fulfilling our dreams? Are we having fun doing it? There is no harm in thinking ‘I, Me, Myself’, after you have fulfilled your basic responsibilities At the end of the session, the participants were given The Choice Map to use as a powerful tool for getting better results. It’s simple and it works!! Ended the meeting with an interesting Quiz. Congratulations to the winners!!

- Rajeswari Natarajan

RSVPs for the Boss’s Day lunch has been very positive. We will continue taking the RSVP till Oct. 5 There will be a meeting on November 15 at Hotel Ambassador Pallava. A mail will be sent to all the members closer to the date. As usual, Christmas party is scheduled in the month of December at Hotel ‘My Fortune’, (formerly know as Chola Sheraton). Please give your rsvp complete with number, gender, age of the children and grandchildren. The date will be intimated later.

IASAP TamilNadu Chapter Page 4

DATE : Thursday, October 16, 2014

VENUE : Taj Mount Road, 2, Club House Road, Anna Salai, Chennai-2 TIME : 12 noon to 2 pm

RSVP : Before October 5, 2014

HIGHLIGHT: Lunch hosted by IASAP for all Bosses on the

occasion of Boss’ day. Chief Guest: Mr. Shyam C Raman, VP-Group HR, Murugappa Group Please note member must be accompanied by her Boss.

:

Flood Fury in Paradise of

India Unprecedented floods caused by uninterrupted heavy downpour wreaked havoc in Jammu & Kashmir recently, unleashing death and destruction of property, making the floods the deadliest since Independence. In September 2014, the Jammu & Kashmir region was hit by heavy floods caused by torrential rainfall. The regions of Jammu and Kashmir in India, as well as Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab in Pakistan, were affected by these floods. More than 200 people in India and 280 people in Pakistan had died due to the floods. According to the Home Ministry of India, several thousand villages across the state had been hit and 350 villages had been submerged. More than 2,00,000 people have been rescued, including 87,000 from Srinagar city. Many parts of Srinagar, including the Border Security Force (BSF) HQ in Santnagar & Army cantonment in Badamibagh, were inundated, and vital roads were submerged, by the floods. Jammu and Kashmir government ministers have called it the equivalent of Hurricane Katrina in Kashmir. India

In Srinagar, most of the city areas were submerged under water. The river Jhelum spilled over submerging Sonwar, Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar, Gogji Bagh and Wazir Bagh neighbourhoods of city. The first storey of the houses and hotels in Rajbagh that were packed with tourists were submerged. 50 bridges were reported to have been damaged across the state. The preliminary assessment of damages to property was estimated between INR 5000 cr to INR 6000 cr. In the Jammu Division, landslides triggered by heavy rainfall had damaged roads, dozens of bridges, buildings and crops. Vehicular traffic had been stopped on the Jammu-Pathankot highway. Katra-bound trains were halted. Haj flights scheduled up to 12 September, were postponed. The Jammu-Pathankot national highway was opened on September 8, after the water level receded. Srinagar-Leh Highway reopened for traffic on 9 September. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi called it a "national calamity". Pakistan

Flow of destruction as flood water entered Multan villages. While the Trimmu Head works was saved from the peak flood discharge, more than 350 villages in Jhang District were flooded due to the breaches made at two places in Athari Hazari dyke, leaving trail of destruction behind. As the floodwater moved further south, water level started increasing at Panjnad and had reached 116,000 cusecs, flooding areas in Mittan Kot and 300 villages in Multan District. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said that 257 people had been killed and more than 1.1 million were affected by the floods. According to reports, the Trimmu Head works safely discharged 650,000 cusecs of water resulting in the water levels to recede. Three people were reported killed in Jhang and nine in Chiniot. ________________________________________________

Editor's Address:

Ms. Usha Reddy

The KCP Limited

2, Dr. P V Cherian Crescent

Egmore, Chennai 600 008

Ph: 6677 2640 / 99406 17453

e-mail: majorushareddy@hotmail.com

Beat Stress

There’s a Hobby for Everyone

Everyone is different and your personality does play a role in what sorts of hobbies you’ll like. If you don’t have a lot of patience you might feel, quilting might be too much for you, but exploring quick sewing projects might be a better choice. Maybe you really like hanging out with friends, so you need to take a class or have an interest that you can do with a group. If you travel a lot, something portable or that you can do anywhere is helpful; if you’re a homebody you might love to be surrounded by a cool collection. Think about the things you already like and how they might expand. If you’re always ordering fun drinks, maybe you could learn to make some at home. If you can’t resist the colors in the paintings at your favorite restaurant, perhaps you should pick up some paint or a camera and explore color in your own way. The truth is you may not hit the perfect activity for you right out of the gate, but you can have a lot of fun trying out new things and exploring what’s out there. Do some web searches, visit the library, don’t be afraid to try new things, and soon you’ll have a hobby that provides you with a lot of fun and stress relief, too.